Ireland squad named this week. Another couple of changes from the Tri-Series squad with Young and McCarthy making way for offie Andy McBrine and 18 year old left arm quick Josh Little. India expected to bring over a strong squad. Really looking forward to seeing these games.

Malahide looked a picture this evening. For once we have games in the middle of a heatwave

Result was as I expected. We have been very poor in this format for some time. Shannon played some fine shots in his knock although he owes Rohit Sharma a drink after he dropped him on 7. Good to see local lad Peter Chase take the wickets of Dhoni, Sharma and Kohli in just four balls. Not many bowlers can say that!

Tinsel wrote:Thirdman

I wonder why Ireland selected two specialist spinners here because this ground is much more smaller

Dockrell would be the only 'specialist' spinner. Singh and Stirling are primarily batsmen.

A bit of trivia, the Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar is partly of Indian descent and has relatives in India.

Born on 18 January 1979, in the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin. Varadkar is the third child and only son of Ashok and Miriam (née Howell) Varadkar. His father was born in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, and moved to the United Kingdom in the 1960s, to work as a doctor. His mother, born in Dungarvan, County Waterford, met her future husband while working as a nurse in Slough. They married in the UK, early in 1971, then lived in Leicester, where the eldest of their three children, Sophie, was born. The family moved to India, before settling in Dublin in 1973, where their second child, Sonia, was born.

Varadkar's parents agreed to raise their son, born to a Hindu father and a Catholic mother, in the Catholic faith. He was educated at the St. Francis Xavier National School, Blanchardstown. His secondary-level education took place at The King's Hospital in Palmerstown, a boarding school run by the Church of Ireland.